Six disciplines. One accountable team. Every client is matched with the right lawyer for their matter.
From courtroom litigation to Fractional GC retainers to international market entry.
Founded on the conviction that the quality of your legal representation should have nothing to do with the size of your retainer.
Two-way referrals, co-counsel access, CPD sessions, mentorship and exclusive events.
Legal updates, firm news, webinar invitations, and award announcements.
Four GTA locations. Walk-in consultations. Weekend appointments.
Free calculators, downloadable guides, and legal checklists, built by our lawyers for real Ontario situations.
Getting judgment is the easy half. Whether you actually see the money depends on what the debtor owns, who else has registered against it, and how quickly you move. We assess collectability before you spend anything.
Book My Consultation →Under section 13 of the Limitations Act, 2002, an acknowledgement of a liquidated debt in writing, or a part payment, restarts the two-year limitation period from the date of the acknowledgement.
Start with a demand letter, then sue in the appropriate forum: Small Claims Court up to $50,000, or the Superior Court above that, with Rule 76 simplified procedure mandatory for money claims up to $200,000. If the debtor does not defend within twenty days, default judgment may be available under Rule 19. Judgment is then enforced by garnishment, writ of seizure and sale, or examination in aid of execution.
Tell us briefly what is going on. A lawyer reviews every enquiry and replies within 24 hours on business days.
A lawyer replies within 24 hours on business days. Urgent? Call +1 416 333 6200, answered 24/7. Submitting this form does not create a solicitor-client relationship.
Most debt claims are legally straightforward. The invoice was issued, the goods or services were delivered, the amount is not disputed and no defence is pleaded. The difficulty is almost never proving the debt; it is recovering it. A judgment against a company with no assets, or against an individual whose home is owned by a spouse and whose income is not garnishable, is an expensive piece of paper. The first question we ask on a collection file is therefore not whether you will win but whether you will be paid.
That assessment is done with searches rather than assumptions: corporate profile and status searches, Personal Property Security Act registrations against the debtor showing what security already exists and in what priority, writ searches in the relevant enforcement offices, title searches where real property is suspected, and bankruptcy and insolvency searches. Where the debtor is already the subject of prior registered security covering all of its assets, an unsecured judgment creditor is queuing behind that security and should know it before spending on litigation.
A demand letter remains the highest-return step in collection work. It costs a fraction of a proceeding, it establishes the date from which contractual interest and costs are claimed, it often produces an acknowledgement of the debt that restarts the limitation period, and in a meaningful proportion of matters it produces payment or a payment schedule without anything further. Where a payment plan is agreed, it should be documented so that a default entitles the creditor to consent judgment for the full balance rather than to start again.
Timing matters as well. A creditor who moves first is more likely to be paid, both because assets have not yet been dissipated and because a debtor with several creditors tends to pay the one that is actively enforcing. Delay is expensive in collection work in a way that it is not in most other litigation.
A claim for an unpaid debt is subject to the basic two-year limitation period in section 4 of the Limitations Act, 2002, running from discovery under section 5. For a simple invoice, discovery generally occurs when payment falls due and is not made. Where an account is running or where payment terms have been extended by agreement, identifying the correct start date requires care.
Section 13 is the provision every creditor should understand. If a person acknowledges liability in respect of a claim for payment of a liquidated sum, the limitation period begins again on the day the acknowledgement was made. The acknowledgement must generally be in writing and signed by the person making it or their agent, and it must be made to the person with the claim before the expiry of the limitation period. Critically, section 13 also provides that a part payment on account of a liquidated sum operates as an acknowledgement. A debtor who sends a partial payment or an email confirming the balance owing has therefore given the creditor a fresh two-year period.
The practical lesson is to keep and organise every written acknowledgement: signed statements of account, emails confirming the balance, promises to pay, and records of part payments. Those documents are frequently what saves an older receivable, and they are also what turns a defended claim into a straightforward summary judgment motion.
Contractual interest is recoverable if it was validly agreed. The trap is section 4 of the Interest Act (Canada), which provides that where interest is expressed to be payable at a rate for a period less than a year and the contract does not contain an express statement of the equivalent yearly rate, no interest exceeding five per cent per annum is chargeable. Invoices and terms of sale that say interest accrues at two per cent per month, without stating the equivalent annual rate, routinely fall foul of this and are limited to five per cent.
Where no contractual rate applies, prejudgment interest is available under section 128 of the Courts of Justice Act at the prescribed rate, and postjudgment interest under section 129. Section 130 gives the court discretion to disallow or vary interest, including where a party delayed the proceeding. Over a multi-year collection matter the difference between a valid contractual rate and the statutory rate can be material, which is why terms of sale should be reviewed before the next invoice rather than after the next default.
Clear payment terms, an express statement of the annual interest rate, a costs recovery clause, a personal guarantee from the principals of a corporate customer, and a PPSA registration where goods are supplied on credit will each do more for recovery than any step taken after default.
| Route | When it applies | Practical effect |
|---|---|---|
| Small Claims Court | Claims up to $50,000, Courts of Justice Act s.23 | Lowest cost forum; simplified procedure and limited costs recovery |
| Rule 76 simplified procedure | Money claims over $50,000 up to $200,000 | Mandatory in the range; compressed discovery and trial |
| Default judgment, Rule 19 | Defendant fails to defend in time | Judgment may be signed by the registrar for a debt or liquidated demand |
| Summary judgment, Rule 20 | Defence filed but raises no genuine issue requiring a trial | Judgment on affidavit evidence without a trial |
| Ordinary procedure | Claims over $200,000 or with non-monetary relief | Full discovery; highest cost |
In a Superior Court action a defendant served in Ontario has twenty days to deliver a statement of defence, or thirty where a notice of intent to defend is delivered. If nothing is delivered, the defendant may be noted in default under Rule 19.01 and, for a claim that is a debt or liquidated demand in money, judgment may be signed under Rule 19.04. Where a defence is delivered but does no more than deny receiving invoices that were plainly delivered, summary judgment under Rule 20 is generally the efficient answer.
The most common genuine defence is set-off. A defendant who says the work was deficient, that goods were defective or short-shipped, or that it incurred costs completing what the plaintiff failed to finish is asserting a claim that reduces or extinguishes the debt. Legal set-off applies to liquidated cross-claims between the same parties in the same right; equitable set-off is broader and can apply where the cross-claim is so closely connected to the plaintiff's demand that it would be unfair to enforce the debt without accounting for it. A set-off defence converts a straightforward collection into an ordinary contract dispute, which changes both the timeline and the cost.
Other defences seen regularly include denial that the contract was with the named defendant rather than with a related corporation, disputes about whether extras were authorised, an unenforceable interest rate under section 4 of the Interest Act, an expired limitation period, and payment or accord and satisfaction. Where an individual has guaranteed a corporate debt, the guarantor may argue that the guarantee was not in writing as required for certain promises under the Statute of Frauds, that it was discharged by a material variation of the underlying obligation made without consent, or that it was procured by misrepresentation.
Assessing these defences honestly at the outset is what separates a productive collection strategy from an expensive one. A defence that is plainly a delaying tactic should be met with a summary judgment motion under Rule 20 and a Rule 49 offer. A defence with genuine substance should be met with a realistic settlement number, because litigating a contested $80,000 receivable to trial rarely leaves the creditor better off than a negotiated resolution at discovery.
Rule 60.18 permits examination of the debtor, and in defined circumstances others, under oath about income, assets, debts owed to the debtor, disposals of property and the ability to pay. This is the foundation of every enforcement plan.
Issued under Rule 60.07 and filed in the enforcement office for each county where the debtor may own land. The writ binds the debtor's interest in land in that county and in practice prevents a clean sale or refinancing.
Under Rule 60.08 a notice of garnishment attaches debts payable to the debtor by third parties, including bank accounts, accounts receivable and, subject to statutory exemptions, wages. Garnishment is usually the fastest source of actual recovery.
The sheriff may seize and sell the debtor's personal property under the writ, subject to the exemptions in the Execution Act, which protect defined categories and values of property from seizure.
Where warranted, appointment of a receiver by way of equitable execution, a charging order, or proceedings to set aside a transfer made to defeat creditors under the Fraudulent Conveyances Act or the Assignments and Preferences Act.
The Creditors' Relief Act, 2010 governs how money recovered through the sheriff is distributed among competing creditors, and generally requires rateable sharing among creditors who have filed writs, subject to statutory priorities. That is one reason moving early matters: a creditor that obtains judgment and files a writ before others is better positioned, and a creditor that garnishes a bank account directly may recover ahead of the sheriff's distribution process.
Where a corporate debtor is insolvent, enforcement gives way to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. A bankruptcy or a proposal stays enforcement proceedings, and an unsecured judgment creditor becomes one voice among many. Certain claims, including construction trust claims and claims founded on fraud or misrepresentation, may survive a personal bankruptcy discharge, which is one reason the causes of action pleaded at the outset can matter years later.
Collection work has to be run proportionately or it destroys the value it is meant to recover. We begin with searches and a written recommendation: pursue, settle at a discount, or write off. Where the debt is worth pursuing, we move quickly through demand, judgment and enforcement, and we tell you at each stage what the remaining recovery prospects look like against the cost of the next step.
Costs recovery in collection work deserves realistic expectations. Ontario is a loser-pays jurisdiction under section 131 of the Courts of Justice Act and Rule 57, but a successful plaintiff recovers only a portion of its actual fees on the partial indemnity scale, and Small Claims Court costs recovery is more limited still. A contractual clause entitling you to recover legal costs on a full indemnity basis is enforceable in principle and materially improves the economics, which is another reason to review terms of sale before the next default rather than after it.
We also act for businesses and individuals defending collection claims, where the issues are usually set-off, deficient performance, disputed extras, an unenforceable interest rate, or a limitation defence. And we review terms of sale, guarantees and security registrations for clients who would rather not be in this position again. Contact us to discuss a receivable or a judgment you are trying to enforce.
Our lawyers offer a initial consultation for most matters. Call, email, or book online. Do not sign anything before speaking with us.
55 University Ave, Suite 1100
Toronto, ON M5J 2H7
2 Sheppard Ave East, Suite 303, Toronto, ON M2N 5Y7
Monday to Friday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Evenings & weekends by appointment
Related Civil Litigation Pages & Guides
No obligation. We will tell you honestly whether we can help, and what it would cost, before you commit to anything.
A lawyer replies within 24 hours on business days. Urgent? Call +1 416 333 6200, answered 24/7. Submitting this form does not create a solicitor-client relationship.
Contacting us does not create a solicitor-client relationship. Please do not send confidential information until we have confirmed we can act for you. We aim to reply within one business day. Sending this form does not meet any court deadline or limitation period.
If you or a child are in immediate danger, call 911. This form is not an emergency service and is read during business hours. Assaulted Women’s Helpline 1-866-863-0511, Talk4Healing 1-855-554-4325, both open around the clock.
Lexaltico LLP
How Lexaltico LLP handles personal information, under PIPEDA and Ontario law.
When you use a form on this site, email us or telephone us, we collect what you choose to send: your name, email address, telephone number and a description of the situation. Nothing on this site requires you to give more than that.
We collect non identifying technical information when you browse: IP address, browser type, pages viewed and time spent. It is used to understand how the site is used and to improve it. It is not used to identify you.
We do not collect sensitive personal information through this website. Detailed personal and legal information is collected only after a solicitor client relationship exists, through the channels set up for that purpose.
What you send is used to reply to you, to run a conflict check, to assess whether the firm can assist, and, if a retainer follows, to carry out the work.
We do not use your personal information for marketing without your express consent, and we do not sell, rent or trade it. If you consent to receive anything from us, every message carries a way to stop, as required by Canada’s Anti Spam Legislation.
Information given to us in the course of a legal matter is protected by solicitor client privilege. We do not disclose privileged information without your consent, except where the law or a court order requires it.
Non privileged contact information may be shared with the providers who help us run the firm and this website, and with people engaged on your matter such as translators, agents and court reporters. All of them are under confidentiality obligations.
Information submitted through a form travels through third party services in order to reach us by email, and may be processed or stored outside Canada, where it can be subject to the laws of that place. Submitting a form is your consent to that transfer. If you would rather not, telephone us instead.
This site uses cookies to understand how it is used. Advertising cookies are set only if you press Accept. If you press Decline, measurement is switched off for you entirely, nothing further is sent, and anything already stored on your device is cleared. The site works either way.
You can change your answer at any time by clearing this site’s cookies in your browser, which brings the question back.
Under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, S.C. 2000, c. 5 you may ask what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct anything inaccurate, and withdraw consent to our use of it, subject to legal and contractual limits. We reply within thirty days or explain why we need longer.
Client files are kept for the period the law and the Law Society require, ordinarily seven years after a matter closes, which reflects limitation periods and the possibility of later proceedings. After that they are securely destroyed or anonymised. You may ask for earlier deletion, subject to those obligations.
If you contact us and no retainer follows, what you sent is retained only as long as our conflict records require, then destroyed.
Privacy Officer, Lexaltico LLP
55 University Avenue, Suite 1100, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2H7
privacy@lexaltico.com
+1 416 333 6200
If you are not satisfied with our answer you may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Short, and written to be read rather than scrolled past.
This site publishes several hundred pages about Ontario law. They are written carefully, they cite statutes and cases by name, and they are reviewed. None of that makes them advice about your matter. Law is applied to facts, and we do not know yours.
The difference is practical rather than technical. A page explaining that spousal support is usually indefinite after a twenty year marriage is accurate as a general statement and may be wrong about you, because of a domestic contract you signed, a period of separation you have forgotten, or an income that is not what a tax return says it is.
Law also changes. Pages carry a review date where one is relevant. A page reviewed last year may not reflect an amendment made since, and a page about a subject currently before an appellate court may be overtaken between your reading it and your acting on it.
A conflict check must be completed. We act for a great many people and businesses, and we cannot act against a current client or use what we learned from a former one. That check happens before anything else and occasionally means we have to decline.
We must confirm in writing that we are prepared to act. Not every matter is one we can take, and saying so early is better than taking a file we cannot properly serve.
A retainer agreement must be signed. It sets out what we are doing, what we are not doing, who is responsible for what, and how fees work. Until it is signed no relationship exists, whatever has been discussed.
Information sent through a form, or by email, before a retainer is signed is not covered by solicitor client privilege. That is not a policy we chose. It follows from there being no solicitor client relationship for the privilege to attach to.
It can also create a problem for you. If you send us detailed information about a dispute and we are later approached by the other side, what you sent may affect whether we can act for either of you.
So tell us the shape of the problem and leave out the detail: the area of law, roughly when it arose, and whether anything is urgent. That is enough for us to say whether we can help. The documents come after the retainer.
Case results described anywhere on this site are real and are described accurately, and they are specific to their own facts. A settlement at three times the original offer happened because of that employer, that contract and that person’s history. It says nothing about what your matter is worth.
Client reviews are the views of the people who wrote them. We do not offer anything in return for a review, we do not write them, and we do not ask only the clients we expect to be positive.
Calculators on this site produce estimates from the figures you enter. They apply published formulas and they cannot know about the facts that most often change the answer.
The content of this site belongs to Lexaltico LLP or its licensors. You are welcome to read it, print it and quote it with attribution. You may not republish it as your own.
We link to statutes, regulations, court decisions and government pages because a reader should be able to check us. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for them, and a link is not an endorsement.
To the fullest extent the law permits, Lexaltico LLP is not liable for any loss arising from your use of, or reliance on, anything published on this website.
These terms are governed by the law of Ontario and the federal law of Canada that applies in Ontario. Lawyers and licensed professionals at the firm are regulated by the Law Society of Ontario, and marketing on this site is intended to comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct.
Every limit on what this website tells you, and every thing it does not do, in one place rather than in small print at the bottom of each page.
Four limits, and they matter in this order.
Everything published on this website is general information. It is not legal advice, it does not take account of the facts of any particular situation, and reading it does not create a solicitor client relationship. Do not act, or decide not to act, on anything here without speaking to a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction about your own circumstances.
These pages describe the law of Ontario, and of Alberta only where a page says so expressly. They do not describe the law of any other province, territory or country. Law that looks similar across jurisdictions frequently is not.
Each page states the law as at the review date shown on it. Legislation is amended and case law develops. A page accurate when written may no longer be.
These pages describe how a rule usually works. That is not the same as how it applies to your facts. The exceptions are where most real matters live, and a page written for a general reader cannot tell you whether you are inside a rule or inside its exception.
If you or a child are in immediate danger, call 911.
This website is not an emergency service. Enquiries sent through a form here are read during business hours and a reply may take up to one business day.
Open at all hours:
Assaulted Women’s Helpline 1-866-863-0511
Talk4Healing 1-855-554-4325
Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868
Using this website, submitting a form, sending an email or speaking to us on the telephone does not make us your lawyers. That relationship arises only when the firm has confirmed in writing that it has agreed to act, a conflict search has been completed, and a retainer has been signed.
Do not send confidential or sensitive information through this website or by email until we have confirmed in writing that we can act for you. Information sent before that point is not treated as confidential and may prevent us from acting for you, or for someone else, in a connected matter.
We aim to reply within one business day. Contacting us does not guarantee a reply within any particular period, does not oblige the firm to act, and does not stop, extend or satisfy any limitation period, filing date or court deadline.
Our line is answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Outside office hours calls are taken by our intake service, who record your details and pass them to the firm. A lawyer responds during the next business day, or sooner if the matter is urgent. Answering the telephone is not the same as giving legal advice, and no relationship arises from that call.
Lexaltico LLP is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario under the Law Society Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.8. All lawyers practising in Ontario through the firm are members in good standing.
Alberta matters are handled by lawyers licensed with, and in good standing with, the Law Society of Alberta. A lawyer licensed in Ontario is not thereby licensed in Alberta, and the reverse is also true.
Immigration consulting is provided by Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29, s. 292.
Not everyone at the firm is a lawyer.
Each page and biography states which applies. Ask at the outset who will handle your matter and under which licence.
We serve clients in thirteen languages. Every page of this website is written and published in English. Where anything is provided in another language, the English version governs in the event of a difference. If you need an interpreter, tell us when you book and we will arrange one.
The complimentary 15 minute initial assessment is a brief introductory conversation. It does not include a review of your documents and does not constitute legal advice.
The firm charges a fee for substantive consultations, including in civil litigation, criminal defence and immigration matters. The firm may waive that fee at its discretion. Any fee is disclosed in advance and credited in full toward your account if you retain the firm.
Where we refer a matter to another firm, including through LexKonnect, we comply with Rule 3.6-6.1 of the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Any referral fee is set out in the Law Society’s standard referral agreement, signed by you before the referral proceeds, and no fee is payable to us unless and until the receiving firm has been paid for its work. You are never obliged to accept a referral and are free to retain any firm you choose. No referral arrangement affects the independent professional judgment of any lawyer at this firm.
They produce estimates from what you type and cannot know the rest. They do not account for the terms of your contract, statutory exceptions, or the discretion a court will apply. Do not make a decision on a number produced by a calculator.
Any outcome described happened on its own facts, before its own decision maker, under the law as it stood at the time. Past results do not predict or guarantee the result of any other case.
Reviews shown here are written by third parties and published on platforms we do not control. Each describes one person’s experience of one matter. They are not a promise, a prediction or a guarantee about any other matter.
This site links to regulators, courts, government sources, professional associations and social platforms, all operated by others. We do not control them, we are not responsible for their content or accuracy, and a link is not an endorsement.
Failure to start a proceeding within the applicable limitation period may permanently bar your claim. In Ontario the general period is two years from discovery under the Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B. Shorter periods apply to many claims. Seek advice promptly. Nothing on this website extends a limitation period.
We aim to meet the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and WCAG 2.1 Level AA. If any part of this site prevents you from reaching us, telephone +1 416 333 6200 or write to hello@lexaltico.com and we will provide the information in another format, at no charge.
Content on this website is © Lexaltico LLP. It may be read and printed for personal reference. It may not be reproduced, republished or used commercially without written permission.